Review of Samskara's CD "Untitled"

Samskara: Untitled

The basic Samskara sound is a rasping flush of rockish guitar riffs, led cheeringly into the foothills of sexual conquest by the bright-voiced hollering of tomcat youth. It's mad and lively enough to rattle the pots and pans, sure enough. The three songs on this demo have been recorded on a 24 track mobile in an upstairs room of a pub. Live-ish, then. And, I guess, quite a good representation of their sound at gigs. There are no frills, no overdubs, no "production". So it works pretty well.

But given the tough world they are breaking into, maybe they should have waited a while before getting this demo out. The steamy thrash of a pub room in Pontefract might take their enthusiastic exuberance to its smoky heart, but the precise attention of a Quad amplifier pumping each beat through Rogers speakers points a fickle finger at some obvious shortcomings. Samskara are a long way from oven-ready, so I'll leave the fork of close criticism in the drawer for another day.

All they really need to know is that song writing is the Devil's Art, and that playing tight four/four as a band needs natural talent (taken for granted) and a huge amount of practice (not yet in the bag).

Find related articles: rogers speakers, quad amplifier, sexual conquest, upstairs room, pub room.